Q-Tip, Nov. 6, Trocadero

POSTED: Wednesday, November 12, 2008, 1:00 PM

Filed Under: Music Show

The crowd was restless after waiting in line two hours on a chilly night outside the Troc. Only the first 200 people would be admitted. Doors were supposed to open at 11. They didn't. It wasn't until quarter to midnight that the cold, bristled mass shuffled into the upstairs balcony. Finally, DJ Scratch plunked his laptop down next to his turntables. With the drop of a few simple beats, the speakers summoned a collective experience:

"Thank you, everybody. To — to Chairman Dean and my great friend Dick Durbin, and to all my fellow citizens of this great nation, with profound gratitude and great humility, I accept your nomination for presidency of the United States."

The audience erupted in a flurry of screams and tears as Q-Tip burst on stage, wearing a military jacket and dropping rhymes about John McCain. He ripped off his coat to reveal an Obama T-shirt.

In a short but potent set, he ran through Tribe Called Quest and solo classics — "Verses from the Abstract," "Nigga, Nigga," "Vivrant Thing," "Award Tour." Tip's last album, Amplified, came out 9 years ago — before 9/11, before Iraq, before George W. No wonder he's been gone so long. Thankfully, he's finally come out of hibernation with The Renaissance, which dropped on Election Day. Hope.

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